There's A Big 'Fortnite' Announcement At The Game Awards Tonight, But It's Not What You Think

It's a big day for battle royale fans. For one thing, Fortnite Season 7 just launched as Epic Games continues to top itself when it comes to totally transforming its map to match the current season: right now we've got a wide-ranging winter wonderland, airplanes, and a ton of other stuff. It's also The Game Awards tonight, the annual celebration that's gradually emerging as the most important awards show in the world of video games. The Game Awards are known not only for the awards themselves but also for the announcements, surprises and trailers that have a way of worming their way into the proceedings. And we'll be getting something big from Fortnite to cap off a long day of news.

At first, it seemed like this announcement was going to be Creative Mode, the brand-new third mode under the quickly growing umbrella that is Fortnite. A brand-new mode would certainly fit the bill for an announcement of this scale but Creative Mode first leaked yesterday morning and is available in the game right now for Season 7 Battle Pass holders. That's a big deal for the future of the game, but it's not the announcement in question. Epic Games' Nick Chester confirmed on Twitter that whatever we're hearing about tonight is different:

"Oh, and this is not the thing we have at The Game Awards. So be sure to check that out tomorrow night, too," he said, in reference to Creative Mode.

At last year's Game Awards Epic unveiled 50 vs. 50, which was a pretty big deal at the time: not only was it the game's first limited time mode, it was one of the biggest divergences from the PUBG formula yet, as well as a sign of the constant updates that have defined the game ever since. But announcing a new limited time mode probably wouldn't cut it this time around: Epic likes to outdo itself, and I'm not sure something like that would qualify, at least on its own.

If Epic does unveil a limited time mode, one possibility would be the Ralph Breaks The Internet tie-in. We've seen some of that in the game already, but Ralph himself has yet to show up in the game in the same way Thanos did a while back. I still think that's likely going to happen, and it would qualify for a big announcement like this.

Other possibilities would include a broader, Fortnitemares-style event for the winter season, though I expect that to happen a few weeks into Season 7 and not right away. It could also be...something else. Some of Epic's biggest announcements are totally out of left field, and there's every reason to expect something similar tonight.